Deputies will toughen the law on foreign agents and think about their complete eradication

The State Duma on Wednesday considered in the first reading two initiatives that would tighten the legislation on foreign agents and introduce liability for those who help them circumvent the bans. None of the deputies stood up for the agents, moreover, there was a demand to completely “stop their activities” on the territory of Russia and to further tighten the responsibility for their assistants. The meeting also raised the issue of the impossibility of recognizing the Yeltsin Center as a foreign agent: United Russia Andrei Alshevsky did not rule out that the situation could change in the future due to amendments to the law on the legacy of former Russian presidents.

Deputies from the Duma Commission on Combating Foreign Intervention, headed by its chairman Vasily Piskarev (United Russia) April 26 made to the State Duma a package of five bills relating to the activities of foreign agents. All of them were on the agenda of the meeting on June 21, but the parliamentarians had time to consider only two. As a result, amendments to the basic law “On Control over the Activities of Persons Under Foreign Influence” and to the Code of Administrative Offenses (CAO) were adopted in the first reading.

• The initiatives propose to deprive foreign agents not only of financial support, as it is now, but also of property support from the state.
• In addition, they establish responsibility for those who help foreign agents circumvent the prohibitions established for them by law.
• For the first time, the Ministry of Justice will issue a warning to such citizens or organizations, and administrative liability is already provided for failure to comply with this instruction: fines for citizens will amount to up to 50 thousand rubles, for officials – up to 100 thousand rubles, for legal entities – up to 300 thousand. rub.

The main speaker on the bills under consideration, Andrey Alshevskikh (United Russia), reported that with the help of the basic law adopted in December last year, “the state has weakened the influence of foreign agents on society.” Since that moment, the commission has been studying law enforcement practice, and the satellite bills have become the result of this “hard work”, the deputy explained.

Daniil Bessarabov (ER), reporting the position of the relevant State Duma Committee on Legislation, announced his support for the approach “when the basic law is supported by the norms of state coercion” in the form of amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses.

Then came the turn of deputy questions. Oleg Leonov (New People) asked if those who repost publications of foreign agents on social networks who did not indicate their status would be fined. Andrey Alshevskikh replied that “everyone is equal before the law,” but in this case, responsibility will come only if the corresponding warning from the Ministry of Justice is ignored.

Oleg Mikhailov (KPRF) asked whether a person who referred to the publication of a foreign agent without indicating his status would be punished if he, in turn, indicated his status in this publication. Mr. Alshevsky did not go into the details of this situation, repeating only that “everyone will bear responsibility” if they “contributed to the violation of the law by their actions or inaction.”

Andrey Kuznetsov (A Just Russia – For Truth) made a radical proposal: “Why do we need to accompany, monitor and control foreign agents all the time, is it not time to simply stop their activities in the country?” He was also interested in whether the law would be able to “take control” of the activities of organizations such as the Yeltsin Center, which have “exclusive legislative conditions for their work.” Recall that earlier Andrei Alshevsky himself requested The Ministry of Justice will conduct an audit of the activities of this organization. In response, the department stated that it was impossible to recognize the Yeltsin Center as a foreign agent, since this is prevented by the current law “On the centers of the historical heritage of the presidents of the Russian Federation who have ceased to exercise their powers.” Mr. Alshevsky suggested that Mr. Kuznetsov apply to the Duma Commission on Combating Foreign Intervention with an initiative to radically ban the activities of foreign agents, and she “will consider it with pleasure.” As for the Yeltsin Center, United Russia did not rule out that changes would be made to the law on the basis of which this facility was created.

Ivan Sukharev (LDPR) asked whether the authors consider the punishment for those who help foreign agents to circumvent the bans “not tough enough.” Mr. Alshevsky did not argue and invited the deputy to submit his proposals for the second reading.

“Today, foreign agents, in fact, are the backbone for the work of intelligence services on the territory of the Russian Federation,” emphasized Andrei Lugovoy (LDPR), another co-author of the bills. According to him, as a result, it is necessary to come to such a tightening of the law that any receipt of foreign support, coupled with political activity, is prohibited. “Only in this case we will be able to defeat this infection,” summed up Mr. Lugovoi.

The deputies agreed with the need to “defeat the contagion” almost unanimously. 377 votes were cast for amendments to the law “On Control over the Activities of Persons Under Foreign Influence”, with one abstention. Amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses were supported by 382 deputies.

Ksenia Veretennikova